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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26506828">call me friend, but keep me closer</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/drunkspacearchivist/pseuds/drunkspacearchivist'>drunkspacearchivist</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Magnus Archives (Podcast)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Angst and Fluff, Angst with a Happy Ending, Asexual Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, Autistic Jonathan “Jon” Sims | The Archivist, Canon-Typical Worms (The Magnus Archives), Everybody Lives/Nobody Dies, Extinction Georgie Barker, F/F, F/M, Fix-It, Fluff, I mean after the first chapter where everyone dies, M/M, No beta we kayak like Tim, Temporary Character Death, Time Travel AU, Trans Jonathan “Jon” Sims | The Archivist, Trans Melanie King, Trans Tim Stoker, canon atypical communication, jonmartin SPEEDRUN, kind of</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 02:33:09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,994</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26506828</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/drunkspacearchivist/pseuds/drunkspacearchivist</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p><i>What’s that old saying? You can take the Archivist out of the apocalypse and back to 2016 where he has to come face to face with every mistake he’s made and every regret he’s ever had, but you can’t take the apocalypse out of the Archivist.</i><br/> <br/>Or, after saving the world, Jon has a chance to go back and do it all again.</p><p>Title from when the party’s over by Bille Eilish</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Basira Hussain/Alice "Daisy" Tonner, Georgie Barker/Melanie King, Martin Blackwood/Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, Sasha James/Tim Stoker</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>162</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. How The World Was Saved</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>CW: Several character deaths, including a suicide, brief violence</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>In a sick twist of fate, she really did look like Daisy at the end. Something in her face shifted when the bullet went through her heart. And since fate is cruel, she had a moment of complete clarity, where she looked at the worn travelers and recognized them.</p><p>“Basira,” she breathed, and she smiled, and her knees buckled. Basira was there, then, grabbing her shoulders, stopping her from hitting the ground, but it was too late.</p><p>Basira didn’t cry. She kissed Daisy’s forehead, and shifted her body in her arms, so that Daisy’s head rested on her shoulders.</p><p>“Is she really-“ Basira’s voice cracks, betrays her, but she doesn’t let herself cry. “Is she gone?”</p><p>Jon inhales sharply. “I... yes. She’s dead.”</p><p>Basira nodded, just once. “Right then. Martin, do me a favor?”</p><p>“Y-yes?” Martin stammered.</p><p>“When you two get to Magnus, punch him for me.” Basira raised the gun to her own head, and pulled the trigger.</p><p>Someone cried out then, though Jon still doesn’t know who it was. Maybe both of them. He doesn’t want to look back, to check. In the end, when Basira’s body fell back, they were both still holding each other. Partners, in every sense of the word, even in death.</p><p>Jon must be in shock now. Was that still a thing? Still something he could do? Be in shock? </p><p>They found Georgie and Melanie still at Georgie’s flat, her lack of fear shielding them from the brunt of the apocalypse. They were so willing to leave, to help change the world back. They had even given The Admiral to Helen, who claimed that cats fell directly under her jurisdiction.</p><p>Melanie wanted so badly to help kill Magnus. She didn’t speak much, none of them did, but she was clear in her wanting. But Melanie had never gotten anything she wanted. </p><p>It was at the base of the Panopticon, in a flurry of knives that Jon learned how an entity is born. It was at the base of the Panopticon, still clutching the broken body of Melanie King, that The Extinction found a home inside Georgie Barker. It killed the creatures acting as guards much faster than the four of them, turning them into piles of scrap metal and plastic and oil. It looked back, and spoke in a voice that was not Georgie’s.</p><p>“Go, Archivist!” And yet, Martin still had to drag him halfway up the stairs before he found his footing again. </p><p>Martin.</p><p>Martin.</p><p>Martin was gone.</p><p>Jon cradled his head, kissed his face like it would bring him back, but he was dead. Dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead.</p><p>And of course, Jonah Magnus was not unaware of their journey across the domains. Of course he was watching from his twisted throne. Of course he would trick them, use the Beholding’s powers against them. Of course he would take Martin, use him for the reason Martin was hired in the first place.</p><p>Of course Jon would never get the pleasure of killing Elias Bouchard. Of course Jonah would wear Martin’s face.</p><p>But they came here for a reason. Jon burned Magnus’ corpse. He gouged Magnus’ eyes out of Martin’s body. He held Martin as the Panopticon crumbled, and he hoped he’d die. </p><p>But he was here now, on a London street. The Extinction pulled him out of the building before it collapsed. Now it stood in front of him, watching him sob over the body of the only person he’d ever truly loved.</p><p>He rocked back and forth, burying his face in Martin’s hair, begging desperately for him to stay warm for just a little longer.</p><p>“Archivist,” The Extinction sighed, and sat down next to him.</p><p>“Leave me alone!” Jon cried.</p><p>“No,” The Extinction said. Jon tried to glare at it, but was overall unsuccessful. </p><p>The Extinction may have worn Georgie’s face, but it was not Georgie. It’s face was completely blank, like a statue.</p><p>“The other entities are gone. Only I remain. But at what cost?” The Extinction asked him. “Humanity is scattered across the globe. Many will still die, now that the entities aren’t keeping them alive. Many more will live, forever haunted by what they have seen. This is a broken world. My world.”</p><p>“So it was all for nothing?” Jon sobbed. “My friends, Martin, they died for nothing?”</p><p>The Extinction grabbed Jon’s face, forced him to look at it. “It doesn’t have to be this way. Things can always change. That’s the thing about extinction: there’s a moment before where they’re still a final chance. One last shot to save everything.”</p><p>“What do you mean?” Jon asked.</p><p>“You’ve got a second chance, Archivist. The question is, will you take it?” </p><p>Jon took one last look at Martin, lifeless in his arms. “Of course.”</p><p>The Extinction smiled, the first emotion Jon had seen on its face, and for a moment he was back in uni, too scared to ask his pretty roommate Georgie Barker to dance with him. Then, The Extinction reached up and touched his forehead.</p><p>Jon blinked, and he was in his office in the Archives. The Extinction was gone. Martin was gone. He stood on shaking legs, ignoring the pain shooting through every part of his body, and opened the office door.</p><p>Before him, in the central part of the Archives, were three desks. Behind the desks were three people Jon thought he’d never see again.</p><p>“And then the officer’s like, ‘Hey, you can’t be back here!’ But I’m like ‘Oh, this isn’t the way to the bathroom!’ Meanwhile, the guy next to me is still, wait what are you guys staring at?” Tim <i>(I don’t forgive you, but thank you for this)</i> stopped his story to see what it was that made Sasha <i>(Hello? I see you!)</i> and Martin <i>(Whatever happens, whatever Magnus does, we can take it. I love you, Jon.)</i> look so horrified. “Jesus Christ, boss! You look like hell!” </p><p>Jon looked down at himself. Despite everything, he laughed. </p><p>What’s that old saying? You can take the Archivist out of the apocalypse and back to 2016 where he has to come face to face with every mistake he’s made and every regret he’s ever had, but you can’t take the apocalypse out of the Archivist.</p><p>Well, that explained the pain, at least. It was every injury he’d sustained over the apocalypse, come back to actually make him feel it now that he was human again.</p><p>Jon looked at his assistants, and said the only thing that came to his mind.</p><p>“<i>Fuck</i>.”</p><p>Then the world went black.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Emerganc(e/y)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>CW: Hospitals, seizures, delirium, grief</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Martin was scared a lot. Today, however, seemed like it was actively trying to fuck with him.</p><p>Normally, Jon leaving his office scared him because he was coming out to give assignments Martin wouldn’t understand, or to scold him for doing something wrong again. But seeing Jon like that? Covered in dirt and grime and blood and scars that looked much to old to have not been there yesterday?</p><p>His hair seemed too long, too. He always kept it pulled in a professional looking ponytail, but it tumbled wild down his shoulders as he burst out of the office door. There was much more grey in it now than seemed to be in it when it was pulled back. Martin considered himself to be an expert on Jon’s hair, due to all the time spent staring at it. And this didn’t look like his hair. He wasn’t sure why he focused so long on his hair, just that it was the first thing that caught his eye. His hands itched to pull it back, to brush it out of his eyes.</p><p>And then Jon fell to the floor, almost hitting his head on Sasha’s desk. And then Tim ran over to him, dropping to his knees and checking for a pulse. And then Sasha called 999. And all Martin could do was sit there and try and figure out why Jon’s hair looked wrong.</p><p>The ambulance was on it’s way, but Jon’s breathing was getting weaker. When the paramedics got there, Jon started actively seizing. Now Martin’s eyes focused on his hand as they lifted him up on the stretcher, and the way it fell to the side, limp. </p><p>The paramedics took him out of the Archives, and three of them followed the ambulance, ignoring it when Elias started calling after them. As it turned out, there was no reason for them to rush. The doctors wouldn’t let them in until Jon was stable, and then wouldn’t let them in until they were sure Jon would stay stable, and then wouldn’t let them in because they weren’t family.</p><p>It wasn’t like any of them were really close, right? Jon was prickly, closed off. But even if they weren’t exactly friends, they knew each other. They weren’t strangers. And seeing Jon look like someone threw him in a blender and pressed purée would have scared anyone. The paramedics sure looked scared. And so someone should at least tell them how Jon was doing, right?</p><p>When one of the nurses ran out, asking for him, Martin wasn’t sure that he’d heard him right.</p><p>“I’m sorry, what?” Martin asked.</p><p>“I asked if one of you was Martin,” the nurses said, sounding as panicked as Martin felt.</p><p>“He is,” Tim said, which Martin was equal parts grateful and angry at him for. “What’s going on?”</p><p>“He’s asking for you, he’s inconsolable,” the nurse said, grabbing Martin’s wrist and pulling him along as she talked.</p><p>“Inconsolable” was an understatement. When Martin first got in the room, he thought that Jon was having another seizure. But Jon was completely conscious, fighting against the doctors trying to hold him down, and screaming his name.</p><p>Martin ran over, not really sure what he was supposed to do, but knowing that Jon needed his help. He did the first thing that came to mind.</p><p>He grabbed Jon’s hand, lacing their fingers together. “Jon? Jon, I’m here.”</p><p>Jon froze suddenly, and looked directly at Martin. For a moment, it felt like Jon was looking directly through him, like he couldn’t see him. Then, Jon gasped.</p><p>“Oh, Martin,” Jon whispered. He reached his other hand over, to put it on top of their clasped hands.  The doctors who had been trying to restrain him backed up, gave them space, which Martin was equally grateful and angry at them for.</p><p>“Jon, you... what’s happened to you?” Martin asked.</p><p>Jon looked confused. His voice was still quiet and scratchy when he tried to speak again. “You know, Martin. You were there.”</p><p>“Oh, right,” Martin said, though he still had no clue what Jon was talking about.</p><p>“Is it really over?” Jon asked him, notes of hope twisting into his voice.</p><p>“Yes, you’re safe now Jon,” Martin stammered. He felt like he was lying, but he didn’t even know what he was lying about. “You’ve got to let the doctors take care of you now, okay?”</p><p>“Will you stay?” Jon asked.</p><p>Martin’s heart fluttered in his chest, despite the fact that he felt like Jon was looking at him but talking to someone else. “Of course I’ll stay.”</p><p>Jon laughed, just once, quietly. “I’m so tied, Martin.”</p><p>“Rest, Jon. I’ll be here.”</p><p>And with that, Jon leaned back and closed his eyes. He still held on to Martin’s hand.</p><p>So yeah, today was definitely trying to fuck with him.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Eye Ache</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>CW: Mentions of character death, canon-typical Jon huilt, injuries</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The first thing Jon was aware of was the pain in his head. It radiated outwards, pulsing from his eyes. If he was more conscious, he would have wondered if traveling in time had weakened his connection to The Eye. At the very least, the fact that The Eye was not watching the whole world made him a lot less powerful.</p><p>The next thing Jon was aware of was that someone was holding his hand. He tried his best to power through the pain as he opened his eyes. </p><p>His heart jolted in his chest, hitting painfully against his rib cage and sticking in the soft spot where two were missing, before slamming back into place. The sleeping blurry outline he knew so well, the one holding his hand, wasn’t truly his. It was the first fully formed thought he had. The realization that Martin was there, and the realization that he wasn’t in quick succession.</p><p>Simply put, it wasn’t his Martin. It was this world’s Martin, 2016 Martin, the Martin who hadn’t tasted of the Forsaken or heard the call of the Mother. And yet, he held his hand. Because Jon had asked.</p><p>“It’s sweet,” a lifeless voice said from behind him. The voice wasn’t lifeless in that it lacked life, but in that it had no clue what life was. It was a voice Jon had only heard once, but one he would not forget.</p><p>Jon looked at The Extinction. When he spoke, his voice was rough and hurt to use. “What is?”</p><p>“At this point of his life, Martin Blackwood believes his boss hates him. And yet he stayed, because he was asked to,” The Extinction said.</p><p>“Why are you here?” Jon asked.</p><p>“Just wanted to check on you. Guess I’m here a little soon.”</p><p>“No, I mean... if I’m here to stop the apocalypse, and you manifested because of the apocalypse-“</p><p>“Then my arrival means you failed? You’re only half right, my dear Archivist. Well, you’re not quite the Archivist anymore. But you know what I mean.”</p><p>“What do you mean, half right? How am I not the Archivist? How did you manifest? How do I stop the apocalypse?”</p><p>“So many questions, even after I told you that you weren’t the Archivist? My, my. Patience is a virtue.”</p><p>“You have to answer my questions before Martin wakes up.”</p><p>“You got me there. Let’s see.” The Extinction paused, as if considering. “Probably the easiest question to answer is the ‘how to stop the apocalypse’ one. That’s simple. Just don’t read the ritual, and be prepared for Jonah Magnus to try again.”</p><p>“That’s all you can give me?” Jon complained.</p><p>“I don’t know <i>exactly</i> how these things will happen, Archivist, I’m not The Eye. And no more interruptions from you, you have to save your voice for when Martin wakes up.”</p><p>Jon glared at it, but said nothing. The Extinction continued. “I don’t know for certain how I manifested, but I can give you a theory.”</p><p>“The world you came from, Archivist, was one of fear. Every person in the world was afraid. And as the harbinger of the world, you had your eyes on all of it, even if you didn’t realize it. You were sending out messages, signals telling the avatars you were moving. As you and your friends got closer to the Panopticon, the avatars, and the entities by extension, took notice. And when you finally reached the base of the Panopticon, you sent out a message showing that you actually had a chance at changing the world back. And in that moment, the entities felt the closest thing an entity can to fear.”</p><p>“So you have a broken world, full of people and avatars and entities who are all afraid all at the same time. Everyone in the world was afraid. Everyone, of course, except for Georgie Barker, who hadn’t been afraid in a very long time, and Melanie King, who was certain she would end up fine.”</p><p>“The things at the base of the Panopticon attacked, and one of them killed Melanie King. In the moment before her death, she realized what was happening, and was afraid. I was born, driven by the last thoughts of a dying woman, manifesting out of the entities’ fear of their own demise, and fed by the fear of all those under their rein. Georgie Barker was the only being not afraid, which made her the only suitable being for a vessel.”</p><p>“Now that I am born, I exist in a time in which the world is mine. I control the Earth, space, and time itself. Simply put, live inside my own timeline. What you do here won’t affect me. You haven’t really traveled back in time, Archivist. You’ve just been put in a new timeline.”</p><p>Jon breathed sharply. “So that world still exists? All those people are still suffering because of me?”</p><p>“Yes. And no. Technically, none of them are real.”</p><p>“Are you real, then?”</p><p>The Extinction laughed, a horrible freaking sound like metal scraping together. “Now now Archivist, there’s no need to have that debate. Especially since it looks like Martin Blackwood is about to wake up.”</p><p>Indeed, Martin was starting to twitch and shift in his seat.</p><p>“Any last questions?” The Extinction asked.</p><p>“Just one. Why? Why send me back, why give me a second chance?” Jon asked.</p><p>The Extinction stared blankly at Jon for a moment, but staring blankly was about the only facial expression it could make. Finally, it sighed. “Because I am very young, and there are so many delightful things I’d like to try. I’ve manifested in a world that will give me everything I need on a silver platter. Perhaps your world will bring me a little fun.” </p><p>And like that, The Extinction was gone.</p><p>Martin’s eyes flutter open. He blinked a few times, as if he’d forgotten where he was. He looked over at Jon, and seemed to remember himself.</p><p>“Jon!” Martin said, and his traitorous heart fluttered at the sound. “Oh god, oh god, you’re awake, we need to call a nurse.”</p><p>Martin dropped Jon’s hand, and Jon almost cried on the spot.</p><p><i>Pull yourself together,</i> he told himself. <i>He’s not your Martin. This one doesn’t love you, and you have to get used to that.</i></p><p>Another thing Jon was going to have to get used to, he realized as the doctor walked into the room and asked him how exactly he had gotten all of these scars and had several muscle tears and was severely dehydrated and malnourished, was <i>lying</i>.</p>
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